


Angel's Trumpet

by Librazenith (HerBrazenElegance)



Series: A Girl in the Garden [3]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Blood Magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 11:22:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4302927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HerBrazenElegance/pseuds/Librazenith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some Cadence backstory during her time as a mercenary. Does this work with what we know in canon? I don't care.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Angel's Trumpet

**Author's Note:**

> I got tired of hurting my child, so I decided to make a happy thing.

Cadence plopped down next to Tethys, the motherly Tal-Vashoth who towered over everything in sight, by their tents set up in semi-seclusion amidst the multitude of Fereldan trees, heaving from the bottoms of her lungs in exhaustion. She wiped the sweat from her face with her dirtied sleeves, and Tethys leaned over and tapped her lovingly on the top of her head with her staff.

“You’re getting better with those little knives. Had Cyril pretty scared for a second,” Tethys remarked. “How’s the wound?”

She hardly had the breath to reply and gestured loosely to her right leg. “It’s nothing bad, just needs some time to heal.” Her voice, still several pitches lower than she’d like it to be, was hoarse with thirst. Tethys tossed a canteen in her lap, and she drank deeply.

“It’s going to get worse,” Tethys said.

“It’s dressed perfectly. As long as I don’t strain it anymore I’ll be–”

“I meant the other pain,” she clarified, and at the subtle hint Cade went quiet and stared at the dirt. “You’re building muscle with all this work certainly, but your body is struggling with it. She wants to be soft, and you’re hardening her.”

“She’ll get used to it.” Cade was decidedly more solemn and drank once more.

“That’s the attitude that got me to agree to all this.” Tethys tapped Cade’s head again, a bit more roughly so that she reacted and slapped her staff away. She laughed and ducked low into the tent behind them, leaving Cadence to watch her fellow mercenaries spar while she continued her break.

Cade ran a hand through her sweaty fringe and silently reminded herself to cut it again someday. Short hair wasn’t her favorite, but that awkward middle ground where it wasn’t quite long enough to throw into a ponytail but too long to keep down was incredibly irritating and caused more problems in the heat of battle than necessary. She sighed and mussed it up, pushing it all away from her face.

She’d reached the bottom of the canteen before Tethys returned bearing more gifts. A healthy stalk of elf root fell into her lap.

“Get in the habit of chewing on those. You’ll thank me later.”

“As you wish, mother.” Cade dodged the swing of her staff.

“I think your next lesson should be in avoiding shots from an angry mage,” Tethys threatened lightly, to which Cade only snickered.

As the adrenaline from practice wore down, Cade finally felt the ache of her overused muscles and put a valiant effort toward looking like nothing bothered her. Meanwhile, several stalks of elf root disappeared as the evening progressed, and Cade was considerably less talkative around dinner time with her camp mates. She busily stuffed herself with as much cooked meat as was allowed to her in preparation for meeting with Tethys later that night, deeper into the Hinterlands and away from suspicious eyes.

 

* * *

 

It always hurt. Whether it was the magic itself tearing blood from her body or fighting back the intense urge to vomit after the fact, blood magic always proved to be a fierce power even on a willing and healthy participant.

Cade struggled to say upright as the magic worked over her. She gripped at her thighs in a futile effort to stem the flow of blood from numerous shallow lacerations there, mostly on the sensitive inner sides of her legs, and she dropped to the ground when she’d reached the limit of her pain tolerance. But Tethys pushed further, and Cade winced and held back tears, until there was a dangerous groan from inside of her. Tethys cursed while her friend lay limp on the dirty ground, miserable.

“Cadence,” she said softly. “Cade, I don’t want to say this.”

“What,” she rasped, and Tethys frowned deeply from the sound.

And then she said, haltingly, “I don’t know if I can make this work.”

Cade lie still on the forest floor but for her labored breathing. Then her body began to shake, and for a moment Tethys panicked, thinking she’d gone into shock, but she went closer and it became clear that Cade was worn out to her core and had begun to cry.

“Oh, kadan…”

Tethys knelt down beside her, not caring if she dirtied her coat tails the way she normally might, and rubbed Cade’s back gently, if awkwardly. She glanced down at her new friend’s thighs and the blood pouring out of her and willed some of it back into her body, willed her to heal a little, at which Cade hissed through her tears.

“What do I do?” Cade asked when the burning stopped.

Tethys laughed pitifully. “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I don’t know if this is possible with just one person’s blood. Or maybe I’m not skilled enough…”

“But it’s working. I feel it.” Cade exhaled heavily, forehead resting in the dirt. “Maker’s fucking balls, I feel it.”

“There is only so much I can do before you’ve reached your limit and the pain is for nothing. You’ve already lost so much blood; I don’t want to make you faint or do permanent damage–”

“I can handle it.”

“No,” Tethys said firmly, standing up straight and punctuating with a stamp of her staff against the ground. “You can’t.” There was a brief instance of hesitation, uncertainty as she mulled over the situation. Then she made the decision.

Tethys yanked a small blade from inside her long jacket and held her staff in the crook of her elbow for a moment as she sliced open the palm of her hand. Before Cade could say a word, she’d gripped her staff and begun the business again, stronger, more intense with the added blood, and Cade was momentarily blinded from the fiery sensation of magic working through her body.

When it was over, Cade promptly rolled to the side and barely supported herself on her forearms as she wretched violently. But arms covered in sick seemed like the least of her issues with the fast onset of darkness clouding her vision.

Tethys made short work of wrapping up her open hand and let Cade finish heaving before attempting to bandage her up in kind. Then, without a word, she hoisted her barely conscious friend into her arms and silently carried her back to camp through the dark.

 

* * *

 

When she awoke, it was midday, and instead of finding herself in a tent, she was wrapped in clean sheets on a raised mattress – not a soggy tent bedroll – with sunlight filtering through an uncovered window. In the distance she heard the familiar crackle of a fire echoing from inside a hearth, and closer were solid, assured footsteps climbing stairs and drawing near her.

Two hollow taps against the wooden floor, and then her visitor said, “Good morning, flower.”

“Morning,” Cade managed, not opening her eyes, though she startled herself with the sound of her own voice, a new voice, higher, though still not overtly feminine. It wasn’t unpleasant.

“My, my,” Tethys said. “Looks like that worked after all.”

She placed something hollow-sounding on the end table next to Cade’s bed, and still Cade didn’t open her eyes. But it didn’t take long for the familiar scent of incense-y prophet’s laurel and embrium to float toward her. She breathed them in as deeply as her weak lungs would allow.

“You slept a whole two days,” Tethys informed her. “I told the boys you were a little worn after that match and had fallen ill – which wasn’t entirely untrue. You’ve had a fever this whole time.”

Tethys replaced the wet rag on her forehead on cue. Cade made a small noise of acknowledgment but otherwise remained still beneath the sheets. When was the last time she’d slept in a real bed?

“We took care of one of our jobs without you,” Tethys went on. “The man was kind enough to pay us in lodging for a few days, especially after seeing the state you were in. So we’re in a tavern for a couple of nights now. Thanks for that.”

Cade gave a pleased little hum and snuggled deeper into the sheets, though not altogether painlessly. Her body ached even moreso than usual after their questionable outings, and every use of her fibers sent an electric shock of unpleasant sensation through her.

“Have you seen yourself yet?” Tethys asked quietly. Cade made a negative noise, so she continued. “Shika and I helped some of the ladies here clean you up and get your wounds redressed – awful lot of explaining away that took, mind you – and, not to boast, but I think we’ve made some very real progress.” She snapped off the head of one of the embrium flowers and placed it above Cade’s right ear. “You’re looking better. Much better.”

Tethys stood back and watched Cade, waited for a response. She was ready to be playfully offended when it seemed Cade hadn’t reacted at all, but again she noticed the signs of exhaustion – or perhaps it was relief this time – and the tears that snuck out from between her eyelashes and made little tracks down the sides of her face and toward her ears.

Tethys smiled softly. “I won’t spoil it all for you. Wake when you’re ready. You’ve got time.” And she strolled away, back down the stairs.

Only when she was certain Tethys had left did Cade let her face grow ugly with emotion, and she mustered the strength to bury her face into the pillow and sob, happier than she’d felt in years.


End file.
